U.S. stock futures drop as dollar tumbles

Black Friday shopping to be eyed

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a sizeable drop on Friday in a holiday-shortened trading session, with the dollar's steep decline and Black Friday shopping set to be market themes.

U.S. stocks finished higher on Wednesday, helped by better-than-forecast results from Dell offsetting news that the investment vehicle of Kirk Kerkorian is trimming its General Motors stake. The Dow industrials finished 5 points higher, the Nasdaq Composite rose 11 points and the S&P 500 ended up 3 points.

The stock market will close early on Friday at 1 p.m.

The dollar plunged against overseas rivals on Friday -- partly due to the thin trading conditions -- with the euro reaching its highest level since April 2005 and the British pound climbing to its best level since December 2004. See currency news.

Doubts about U.S. economic growth and speculation of carry trades being unwound were among the factors being cited. The euro rose as high as $1.3108 from $1.2948 late Thursday, and the dollar fell to as low as 115.65 yen from 116.27 yen.

Gold futures, which often rise as the dollar falls, rose $8 to $637 an ounce. Crude oil futures rose 65 cents at $59.89 a barrel.

Retailers will be in focus on the key shopping day of the year, so-called Black Friday.

Retailers can ring up as much as 70% of their annual sales in the November-December stretch, and some make as much as 50% of their annual profit in that short period.

Analysts at A.G. Edwards said advertisements are showing that retailers including Best Buy
BBY, -0.86%
and Wal-Mart aggressive prices on selling high-definition and LCD televisions.

Wal-Mart Stores
WMT, -1.58%
also will be in focus after The New York Times reported it's received the go-ahead for Mexican banking.

Of other companies in the spotlight, Advanced Semiconductor
ASX, -1.31%
said it may get a takeover bid worth over $5 billion in cash from investors led by The Carlyle Group.

Air France-KLM
AKH, -7.14%
on Thursday said it's held talks about a partnership with Alitalia, hurting shares of the Franco-Dutch airline.

Remy Cointreau on Thursday set plans to end a joint distribution agreement with a number of beverage makers, including the Beam Global Spirits & Wines unit of Fortune Brands
FO, +1.35%
Fortune, Brown-Forman
BF.A, +1.65%
and Constellation Brands
STZ, -0.75%
are seen as possible bidders for the French cognac maker.

Intel Corp.
INTC, -1.79%
may trim jobs at its 150-employee Korean unit, according to a Korean news agency.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only.
Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.